Customer Reviews

That Fateful Lightning: A Novel of Ulysses S. Grant

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This is admittedly a beautifully-written novel about Ulysses S. Grant. But there are a number of grating errors which begs the question: why didn't the author do a little more research? Had Richard Parry bothered to read even minimally about Grant, he would not have claimed he was "born and raised in Galena, Illinois." In fact Grant never laid eyes on Galena until he was in his late 30's. Grant was also not the Colonel of the "221st Illinois Regiment." Such bizarre and unnecessary gaffes seriously compromise the integrity of the novel.

Some will think this criticism is foolish, after all, who expects an historical novel to concern itself with accuracy? But Parry makes its plain that he was intent on producing a novel which was strictly based on fact and actual events.

Unfortunately he misses the mark here. If you are only a marginal follower of Grant's career this is an adequate introduction, but it would be wiser to read non-fiction, creditible treatments on his life by Bruce Catton, Brooks Simpson or John Y. Simon.

This is an excellent book of narrative history that brings Grant to life and puts him on your own front porch where you'd like to rock and have a conversation with him clear through to sunset.

I enjoyed this book and will keep it, but...

As others have noted, the author puts too much exposition into character's thoughts and words. I guess he's trying to explain the Civil War for those who aren't familiar with it, but no one talks like these characters do.

There are continuity errors. On one page Sherman has lost his hat; two pages later he discovers a bullet hole in his hat. Early in the book, and in 1885, Mark Twain and Grant smoke cigars; later in the book, and in 1884, Grant smokes his last cigar. The author needed a good editor.

Mark Twain and General Sherman play big parts but they are very flat characters. More detail about their lives in the 1880's, and about Julia Grant's life after U.S. Grant's death, would have been nice. The book does include an epilogue that follows major characters with a paragraph each.

Grant's death scene is too much. Without giving it all away... an old adversary appears "out of the light" to guide Grant on his journey.

I've always been impressed by a photograph of the ailing Grant, all bundled up and sitting on his porch, working on his memoirs. He wrote a powerful book. This novel provides a glimpse into his world and his thoughts at the time, and for that, I appreciate it.

All too often history is reduced to places, dates and endless names that we all recognize but have very little interest in what they accomplished. History is treated with an almost antiseptic approach that leaves a bad taste and kills any desire to explore a particular topic or person any further. "That Fateful Lightning" by Richard Parry gives a refreshing and entertaining look into the life of one of our sometimes forgotten presidents, Ulysses S Grant. It gives the reader a personal look into Grant's life, revealing his fears and frustrations. The book starts at the tail end of Grants life after his presidency. He is broke and ill from throat cancer but feels guilty that he will die and leave his wife Julia penniless with no means of support. Grant had long been swindled out of his money by unscrupulous business partners but desperately wanted to find a way to help his beloved wife before his approaching death. The famous Author, Mark Twain then offers to sell Grants memoirs and give Julia a large percentage of the royalties from the book.

I have read Grant's actual memoirs and found them to be suprisingly good. His book however is a little dry. It gives detailed troop movements, supply counts, descriptions of terrain and of course he discusses many of his battle strategies that any historian would find fascinating. The non-historian however, would find the book tedious and probably not get further than the first chapter. In contrast, Richard Parry reveals the more human side of Grant in "That fateful lightning". Grant is pictured as a dying man that is racing against time to finish his memoirs. As he is writing, he reflects on his experiences in the Civil war. He reveals his opinions of many of the civil wars' great generals and talks about his feelings of guilt at sending so many men to their deaths. Grant describes his great love for his wife Julia and talks about his loneliness when he is away from her. He turns to drinking to deal with some of his insecurities but in the end his dignity and integrity overcome any shortcomings in his character. His experiences with Lincoln, Sherman, Meade and Robert E. Lee are shown from his own personal point of view. Even though this is a work of fiction, it is not hard to imagine that Grant might have had these exact feelings and opinions. If you are a historian that is only interested in factual history, you might want to stay away from this book and stick to the mundane, cold and lengthy texts. If you are the type of person that is interested in historical figures from a personal and human perspective then I highly recommend this entertaining work of narrative history.

This novel covers the last days of Ulysses S. Grant, interspersed with Grant's "flashbacks" to the Civil War. The author relies too heavily on exposition to tell his story (one chapter where Grant and his wife tell each other virtually his whole life story is particularly awkward,) and the ending somehow manages to be both flat and overly melodramatic. However, parts of the book (particularly the depiction of Shiloh) are genuinely moving. This is hardly a memorable novel--I doubt I'll read it twice--but it is not a complete waste of time, either.